Lorgar Aurelian

Lorgar Aurelian[8] or the Urizen (meaning wisest of the wise in Colchisian[13b]) is the Primarch of the Word Bearers, one of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. Fiercely religious and prone to fanaticism, Lorgar yearned for a greater meaning to his existence besides conquest.[3] This quest and the tragic events that befell his perfect city of Monarchia led him to become the first primarch to become seduced by the powers of Chaos. Hiding his new allegiance for many years, he helped to orchestrate the events that led to the Horus Heresy. He has since ascended to daemonhood.

Contents

History

Youth

The PrimarchLorgar vanished from the gene-labs on Luna while still an infant, along with the other twenty Primarchs. After his spiriting away by the forces of Chaos he was found on a desert feudal planet of Colchis. A nomadic tribe of outcasts known as The Declined under the chieftain Fan Morgal found the infant's shattered capsule and took him in. They named the child Lorgar, or the Rain-caller. Seventeen days later, Lorgar, already grown to the size of a young child, was discovered by Kor Phaeron an exiled priest of the Covenant. Immediately sensing greatness in the boy and believing him blessed by The Powers, Kor Phaeron convinced Lorgar to become his disciple and promptly killed Fan Morgal and his tribe to cover up the boy's identity.[13] Despite enduring Kor Phaeron's vicious abuses, Lorgar fervently believed in the Covenant and researched every aspect of it that he could find, coming to the conclusion that there was a The One that binded the polytheistic Covenant together. Kor Phaeron dismissed such notions initially and often abused Lorgar physically and emotionally. At the same time, Kor Phaeron saw something special in Lorgar and attempted to manipulate him in order to rule over Colchis. Nonetheless, Lorgar remained intensely loyal to Kor Phaeron and even saved his life in a crew mutiny. Lorgar also grew close to those in Kor Phaeron's caravan, which included the captain Axata and slave Nairo.[13]

Despite Kor Phaeron's abuse Lorgar quickly surpassed his master. He became a devout preacher, his skill in oratory and the power of his charisma winning him many followers, rising to the position of Archpriest of the Godsworn. After saving Kor Phaeron's life in the crew mutiny, Lorgar was named the new Bearer of the Word by the priest.[12] Lorgar's fame quickly spread thereafter, he began liberating slaves across Colchis and amassed a massive army that marched on the capital city of Vharadesh. After a fiery sermon before the city gates, they opened to him with lower priests of the Colchis presenting the corpses of the Covenant Ecclesiarch and Hierarchs as a gift. After taking Vharadesh, Lorgar's forces moved from city to city, taking them either peacefully or in some cases putting everyone to the sword for their heresy in refusing The One.[13a] After several years of fighting the last city to stand against Lorgar's army was Gahevarla, which was protected by a Dark Age of Technology-era storm generator. Performing a miracle, Lorgar approached the maelstrom around the city and caused the storm to part, allowing his army to swarm through the gap and capture Gahevarla. With that Lorgar was lord of Colchis, but proclaimed that they still had much to do.[13b]

However, as Lorgar grew in standing amongst the people, members of the Covenant began to grow jealous of his popularity. Lorgar's youth was plagued by visions of a mighty warrior in gleaming bronze armour coming to Colchis, a cyclopean giant in blue robes standing beside him. At one point, the visions reached such intensity that Lorgar claimed that the prophesied return of Colchis' god was soon to occur. He began to preach this news to the people of Colchis, causing disruptions to the rule of the Covenant as people converted to his beliefs. Lorgar's enemies in the Covenant saw this as the opportunity they had been waiting for to remove the threat that Lorgar was to the status quo, declaring him a heretic.[6]

Those who came forward to arrest Lorgar were killed by his followers. The Covenant split into two factions the followers of the Old Faith and the Brotherhood of Lorgar, and a holy war of immense proportions known as the Schism Wars erupted. Eventually the entire population of Colchis was forced to choose a side. This war lasted six years, ending when Lorgar and his supporters stormed the temple at which the Primarch had trained, killing the monks of the Old Faith within. Possibly as part of this conflict, or after it, one in three of Colchis were said to turn against Lorgar, and the first Great Purge was conducted by the Brotherhood's fanatically loyal warrior-monks hand-picked by Lorgar.[6]

Less than a year after the victory of Lorgar's people, a landing craft carrying the Emperor and Magnus the Red, along with two Tactical Squads of Thousand SonsSpace Marines descended from orbit and landed near the temple. Lorgar was said to immediately recognize these people as the ones in his visions, and swore his fealty to his father and creator. Every facet of the Covenant's belief structure was reorganized towards the worship of the Emperor as their saviour, and the people of Colchis united behind their new god. The elaborate celebrations and displays of piety lasted for months, although it was said that the Emperor did not approve of this, wishing to rejoin the Great Crusade as soon as possible. At the conclusion of the celebrations, Lorgar was made commander of the Seventeenth Space Marine Legion, which was then known as the Imperial Heralds but was soon renamed the Word Bearers.[6]

The Great Crusade

Lorgar led his Legion throughout the Great Crusade, the Word Bearers seeking to eliminate all blasphemy and heresy within the new Imperium. Ancient texts and icons were burned. The construction of vast monuments and cathedrals venerating the Emperor was supervised. The greatest Chaplains of the Word Bearers produced enormous works on the divinity and righteousness of the Emperor, and gave grand speeches and sermons to the masses. The progress of the Word Bearers was slow, but domination of the defeated was complete. At some point during this period, Lorgar penned the Lectitio Divinitatus, postulating the worship of the Emperor as a divine being[1]. This book would later become instrumental in the founding of the Imperial Cult[Needs Citation].

However, the Emperor was not pleased with the lack of progress the Word Bearers were showing, and was even more dismayed at their religious zeal; one of the main goals of the Great Crusade was to free Humanity from the ignorance of religion. And so the Emperor personally reprimanded Lorgar, informing him that the mission of the Space Marines was for battle, not faith. Thus the Emperor ordered the Ultramarines to destroy Lorgar's world-building project on Monarchia. Worse still, the Emperor accompanied by Roboute Guilliman forced Lorgar and his entire legion to kneel before him, humiliating the primarch. Lorgar was said to mourn the Emperor's command for a month, speaking to nobody save Erebus and Kor Phaeron, and wearing only hairshirt robes. The Emperor was about to reprimand the Legion again for their lack of action when news reached him that the Word Bearers had gone back on the offensive, and this time, worlds fell before them in rapid order[3a].

The Corruption

It was this event, roughly 43 years before the beginning of the Horus Heresy, that turned the Word Bearers to Chaos. Whilst Lorgar brooded over the Emperor's reproach, Kor Phaeron and Erebus, his top lieutenants, whispered to Lorgar of the great Chaos gods: beings that welcomed, even demanded zealous worship and devotion. Lorgar was slowly poisoned against the Emperor by Kor Phaeron and Erebus, who were appointed Master of the Faith and First Chaplain respectively, and were tasked with converting the entire legion to Chaos. After a failed attempt to get answers on the nature of the universe from his close friend and brother Magnus, Lorgar decided to go on a pilgrimage to discover the truth for himself[3]. Eventually Lorgar's psychic abilities lured him to newly-discovered Cadia, insisting he heard a voice calling for him. There, he encountered Ingethel the Ascended who showed him the "Primordial Truth" of the universe. Ingethel convinced Lorgar that humanity had to accept and welcome the Gods of Chaos, and failing to do so would have their race share the same fate as the Eldar. Finally, after being shown a horrifying vision of the future (hinted to be the Emperor on the Golden Throne)[3b], Lorgar was finally converted by the Ruinous Powers.[3c] The Word Bearers came to venerate the gods of Chaos, but instead of throwing their support to one god, they worshiped Chaos Undivided, a pantheon composing the four Chaos gods[Needs Citation].

Later, Lorgar journeyed with Ingethel the Ascended deeper into the Eye of Terror where he defeated an EldarAvatar upon a shattered Crone World and went on to best the mighty BloodthirsterAn'ggrath the Unbound in battle, a sign he was chosen by the Dark Gods. After the fight, Lorgar met Kairos Fateweaver who told him that Lorgar now had a choice: he could achieve either personal vengeance for his shame by slaying Roboute Guilliman in the future (a hint at the Battle of Calth, still decades away) but thus doom Horus in his rebellion or put personal satisfaction aside and taste the shame and bitterness forever but work for the greater goal of illuminating humanity with the Primordial Truth. Fateweaver made it clear how vital this decision would be, as this was a rare occasion where both his heads spoke the truth. Contemplating his course of action the last stage of this pilgrimage, Lorgar demanded to see a vision of the future if the forces of Chaos lost the upcoming war with the Imperium. What Lorgar saw changed him forever.[8]

Horus Heresy

Now an agent of Chaos, Lorgar dispatched his trusted subordinate Erebus to Davin. There, the First Chaplain orchestrated a series of events in cooperation with Davin Chaos Cult priests that saw Horus corrupted by the Ruinous Powers.[9] The Legion kept their new devotion secret, until Warmaster Horus declared his own faith in Chaos, and began the galactic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. The Word Bearers quickly joined the rebellion, and many of the worlds they had conquered since their conversion turned as well, having been corrupted by the Word Bearers during their conquest[Needs Citation]. During the Drop Site Massacre, Lorgar and his Word Bearers revealed their true colors along with the Night Lords, Alpha Legion, and Iron Warriors. Lorgar engaged Corax in combat, with the Raven Guard Primarch having the upper hand until the intervention of Curze.[3b] During the Traitor War Council after the battle on Isstvan V, Lorgar encountered the Daemonically-possessed Fulgrim and in a rage viciously assaulted the corrupted Primarch. Only the intervention of Horus himself stayed Lorgar's hand, for Lorgar saw total daemonic possession as opposed to a "shared" bond between vessel and Daemon as a perversion of the natural order.[8]

The majority of the Legion was ordered by Horus to see to the entanglement and possible destruction of the Ultramarines Legion, so that their vast forces could not be brought to bear against Horus' march towards Holy Terra. This was a task the Word Bearers took up with joy, for as the Emperor had chastised the Word Bearers for their faith, the Ultramarines had become his favoured Legion. The assault on Ultramar was led by Kor Phaeron, who swore to utterly destroy the Ultramarines. The Word Bearers ambushed the Ultramarines at Calth, an attack which eventually turned against them. When help from the Ultramarines' homeworld Macragge arrived the Word Bearers were routed from the system[Needs Citation].

During the Heresy at the orders of Horus, Lorgar would team up in the Shadow Crusade with Angron and his World Eaters to strike at Ultramar in an attempt to distract the Ultramarines in conjunction with the Battle of Calth. Lorgar and Angron were on tense terms at first, with the Red Angel delaying the advance by butchering strategically worthless worlds. However the two avoided inter-Legion war when a Dark Eldar assault unified them against a common enemy.[11]

Lorgar, recognizing Angron's instability and hidden sorrow over his forced departure from Nuceria, recommended that Angron return to his adopted homeworld to find a sense of closure. Lorgar also had the intention to summon a great Warp storm known as the Ruinstorm which would cut off the rest of Ultramar from the Imperium. When the two Primarchs arrived on Nuceria however they discovered that the slave-lords of Nuceria had massacred Angron's comrades and told the population that he had fled during their last stand. Infuriated, Angron ordered that the World Eaters and Word Bearers purge Nuceria of its population and Lorgar willingly took part in the slaughter.[10] Eventually the Ultramarines and Guilliman himself arrived, pursuing the traitors from Calth, and the Lord of Macragge battled first Lorgar then Angron. However this had all gone according to Lorgar's plan, who used the immense rage Angron was emitting to begin a Khornate ritual which transformed the World Eaters Primarch into a monstrous avatar of Chaos, allowing him to overcome the slowly debilitating effects of the Butcher's Nails.[10]

Following the Shadow Crusade, Lorgar began to believe that Horus was too weak to lead the Forces of Chaos to victory over the Emperor. He was disgusted by Horus' refusal to submit before the power of the Gods, and had foreseen that Horus would lead the traitor war effort to defeat. Ultimately, Lorgar became secretly committed to killing Horus and taking his place as Warmaster of Chaos and anointed of the Gods. Lorgar made his move following Horus' fall at Beta-Garmon, appearing on the Vengeful Spirit with Zardu Layak. Though Horus was comatose, he agreed that the traitor's needed to be assembled at Ullanor in preparation for the drive on Terra. However, not all of the traitor Primarch's could be found nor were they all obeying the summons. Thus Lorgar proposed that Perturabo journey to find Angron while he commit himself to finding Fulgrim.

Using an oracle disciple of Cyrene Valantion as a guide, Lorgar, Layak, and a small force of Word Bearers entered the Webway in search of Fulgrim. They successfully navigated its treacherous corridors to enter the Eye of Terror, where they found themselves before the Palace of Slaanesh itself. Inside they find Fulgrim and N'Kari engaged in debauchery. Fulgrim refuses to leave his delights and return to the war effort, forcing the two sides to battle. As Lorgar holds off Fulgrim, Zardu Layak utters the True Name of the newly transformed Daemon Primarch. Layak had learned the name from a ritual Lorgar conducted but due to the total amnesia it would eventually give the name's bearer, he had put the burden onto the Dark Apostle instead. Fulgrim was bound to Layak's will by the name's utterance, and Lorgar now had a pawn with which to slay Horus with. After gathering the disparate Emperor's Children together, the two legions arrived at Ullanor for Horus' muster. Horus had by this point recovered thanks to the sacrifice of Maloghurst, and Lorgar revealed his plan to usurp the Warmaster. After sacrificing large amounts of mortal servants, Lorgar planned to unleash a psychic scream that would disorient Horus, then have Zayak order Fulgrim to attack. The Word Bearers and Emperor's Children orbiting Ullanor would finish off the Sons of Horus, leaving Lorgar in control of the traitor war effort.[15]

However Lorgar's coup quickly fell apart, as Actaea had tipped Horus off to his treachery. Upon meeting Horus on Ullanor Lorgar was immediately assailed before he could unleash his psychic assault, and Zardu Layak freed Fulgrim from his bindings instead of ordering him to attack. Lorgar was beaten mercilessly by Horus, who threw him his weapon and demanded he stand and fight. Lorgar refused to fight, and instead expressed pity at the monstrosity Horus had become since his recovery, consisting of an ever-shifting form with a maw of dark energy at its core. Horus ordered Lorgar to leave his sight, pledging to kill him if he ever returned. The Word Bearers under Lorgar's command followed Zardu Layak would continue to serve Horus. Lorgar left for destinations unknown, proclaiming that Horus was doomed to failure due to his weakness.[15]

Post-Heresy

Eventually, the atrocities committed by the Word Bearers allowed for Lorgar's ascension to Daemonhood, becoming the equal of a god in the eyes of his Legion. It is said his birth scream echoed across the Immaterium with triumphant vindication, his faith and devotion rewarded with immortality and unbridled power. He has since isolated himself within the Templum Inficio on the daemon world of Sicarus where he has remained for thousands of years, forbidding anyone to interrupt his meditation.[2]

Lorgar temporarily broke his exile to aid Word Bearers against a monstrosity that was hunting them. The creature was eventually revealed to be Corax, who had become mutated by the powers of the Warp during his quest for vengeance against the Traitor Primarchs. Lorgar and Corax engaged in a duel once more, with the Ravenlord dominating the engagement and forcing Lorgar to withdraw through the portal he had arrived in. As the portal between them closed, Corax stated that he now had Lorgar's scent and would hunt him down.[14]

Exile's End

After ten thousand years of seclusion into the Warp, Lorgar is finally rumored to have returned at the close of the 41st Millennium and formation of the Great Rift. It is said that he has been seen walking mortal realms in terrible splendor, preaching the word of Chaos at the head of a massive Word Bearers force.[12]

Character

Sorot Tchure, one of the Word Bearers' Captains who took part in the Battle of Calth, confided to his friend, Honorius Luciel of the Ultramarines, that Lorgar had been a burden to his own legion for many years; every bit as brilliant and charismatic as the other primarchs, but also moody and mercurial.[7a]

Roboute Guilliman echoed this sentiment, after a brief conversation with his brother:

He is so... changeable. He is so prone to extremes. Eager to please, so quick to take offence. He's so keen to be your best friend, and then, at the slightest hint of an insult, he's angry with you. Furious. Offended. Like a child.[7b]

Even after suffering the worst effects of the Word Bearers' treason, Guilliman said he felt his brother's pain, felt that Lorgar had been manipulated by forces beyond his control and was agonized at what these forces had pushed him to do.[7c] However after the Drop Site Massacre and his duel with Corax, it was said by those around him (Magnus[10a], Horus[10b], and Guilliman[10c]) that Lorgar had changed and became a different person. Dubbing himself the "Minister of Chaos Absolute", he became more accepting of war and violence, developed grand schemes and manipulations, enhanced his combat prowess, and his mastery of the Warp rapidly outpaced that of Erebus and Kor Phaeron who began to realize they could no longer control him.[10a]

Lorgar himself was bitter over his existence as a soldier bred for nothing but war. Wanting to understand the greater nature of the universe and build a society to venerate these universal truths, Lorgar never mastered the arts of tactics and combat like his other brothers and looked down upon acts of conquest. Because of this, he often found solace with Magnus the Red, whose personality and mindset most closely resembled his own.[3d] Much like Magnus, Lorgar quickly developed his psychic potential over the physical.

Magnus once criticized Lorgar for being "selfless" and the chaos emissary said he was chosen by the Chaos gods because of these traits. [10] While many allied with the Chaos gods for power, Lorgar came as an idealist and that was why he was chosen to lead humanity into the embrace of Chaos. [10]

Martial Strength

While Lorgar improved his strength from being the weakest Primarch to being able to fight evenly against Roboute Guilliman by the Shadow Crusade, Lorgar's psychic talents were his most potent asset. By the fighting in Ultramar, he was capable of vaporizing several Space Marines with a mere glance.[10]

When Khorne broke the agreement with the other Chaos powers and sent An'ggrath to test and kill Lorgar, the Chaos emissary said, that martial power was not the strength of Lorgar and didn't match the martial abilities of Russ, Angron, Johnson, Dorn or Curze. Lorgar struggled in the fight against the mightiest Bloodthirster but managed to banish him. Lorgar needed to rest after the fight to "stay alive." [8]

Kairos, freed from needing to lie with one head, foretold him, that he could kill Guilliman on Calth, and the other Primarchs would finally respect his strength, however, the (dark) crusade against the Imperium would be doomed then. Kairos also told him that he couldn't stand in a fight against Corax.[8]

Etymology

Logar Province is a province of Afghanistan that during the Soviet-Afghan War was known as the "Gates of Jihad" due to the large amount of violence there. Aurelian was a Roman Emperor who like Lorgar was raised in impoverished conditions but eventually came to rule an empire. Lorgar's title, Urizen, is a reference to the god of the same name in the works of William Blake.[16]